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Ok guyz, there it is. As I said this morning (for me!) , a lot of pipol seem to complain about ShroomWizard tek. I had found alot of things that could be revisted, but the tek now looks a bit like PF at the begginning, 50/50 at the end. This is for all newbies that started with SW and failed, here are the problems solved. Also, this must be a community tek, so anyone, whilling to apport information, comments are welcome. We should do this for all teks of which pipol fail. So anyone having any problem with any tek say so, we will have a look. I really like doing this, and I consioder myself having enough knowlege to apport revision to certain teks, with modesty of course, I haen't invented any tek yet!!!
Enough there it is: Overview and notes

The first big changes I made, were for the preparation f the substrate, the sterilisation method, the inoculation method, and the fruiting. Firstly, I thought that a vermiculite layer on the top of the substrate would be more than usefull; so this layer meens that U can inoculate only with some spore/mycelium solution. Do a search on the shroomery to find the ways of making inoculum (spore syringe, agar culture- mycelium syringe, mycelium liquid culture-mycelium syringe, ...). So now, the beggening is more like the PF tek than anything else. Also, I have brought some changes to the sterilisation method, I found (and I musn't be the only one), that boiling for 45 min is not sufficient for killing the mold and spores. Pressure cooking is necessary and sure. If you don't have a pressure cooker, and you want to start mushroom cultivation, I suggest buying one or finding someone that would be kind enough to lend U one. I did a little change in the casing, and I really suggest the use of a terrarium because a) it is really usefull for keeping the humidity up, simply spraying the casing would not be enough, b) a protection against contaminants, even if it is not sterile, it helps keeping contaminats from falling onto the casing, putting a casing in the air is looking for contaminats :) c) an easy way of transporting all the trays is neccesary ("Darling! I'm home!" Shit! gotta get all these trays into the cupboard in less than 5 seconds!! ** This situation comes from a stupid television series, and has nothing to do with what is said here**). That about it generaly, so here is the ShroomWizardTekinspired-shroomery tek V1.0 (notes are in bold font)

Supplies Required

Organic Brown Rice Flour This flour can be found in most any health food store and some larger grocery stores even
carry it. It usually comes in a two pound bag and costs under $3.00. Make sure that the bag
has the words "Organically Produced" on it, this is very important. A two pound bag will be
sufficient to make about three dozen (36) culture jars. Vermiculite This is a product that can be found almost anywhere garden supplies are sold. I buy mine at
either a K-Mart or Wallmart garden department and a huge bag costs under $4.00. Its
purpose is to retain moisture and help keep the soil from becoming too tightly compacted. Hand Spray Bottle I buy mine at K-Mart in the health and beauty section. Make sure it has an adjustable nozzle
so you can spray a fine mist with it. These cost less than $1.00 each (buy 2). Canning Jars You will need to purchase a case (one dozen) of 1/2 pint canning jars which are also called
jelly jars. These can be found in about every major grocery store and cost around $4.00 a
dozen. Make sure they are "wide mouth", meaning the top of the jar is larger than the bottom
of the jar, this is so the contents will simply slide out of the jar when ready. <1/2 pint = 8
ounces> Plastic Trays These can be purchased in K-Mart or Walmart also and are about the size of a standard
shoebox with a snap on lid. I purchase mine in the K-mart kitchen storage utinsil area. They
are called Modular Storage Containers made by Aero Housewares (stock #3515). They are
13" x 7-1/2" x 6"high and come in packs of five for $4.89.I don't know the contanace, I count in cm. But a tray of 1L is fine for one cake, 2L for 2cake, etc.
Potting Soil This is just a small bag of potting soil which can be purchased also at (you guessed it) the
K-Mart or Walmart garden section for $1.00 or less. This is the same type of dirt you would
plant most house plants in. It's is suggested to buy a soil with peat is possible, and with the highest pH possible. (Hard to find over 7.5) Terrarium
Any kind container (aquarium, cooler, Tupperware, ...) is OK if its transparent on the top (if its completly transparent, that ok (aquarium)), or if it can be cut easily on the top(cooler) or has a lid U can tek away and replace by transparent film(Tupperware, ...). Find a size of terrarium that fits the number/ size of your trays on the bottom, or take 2, 3,.. small terrarium. Don't take a terrarium too high, and the minimun height is about 50 cm.

This is the complete equipment list for cultivating mushrooms in your own home, the total cost is
under $20.00(I can't garranty that) and you should have no problem locating any of the items. Everything else you will
need can usually be found around the house and is listed below:

Bleach This will be used to sterilize the work area. Lysol spray is excellent for this task but bleach is
1/10 of the price.U can use that if U want, but if you use thta oven tek, it is a bit useless Water This can be tap water, distilled water, drinking water, spring water or filtered water. The only
water we can't use is water that has been softened using a salt water softener or saltwater
itself. Pressure Cooker
I didn't know if everybody has that item, I think it is necessary for mushrrom cultivation. Try getting one that contains about 4-8 jars, and if possible a gauge.

Innoculating

This is the first, and most important step in the process. What we will be doing here is mixing the
substrate, which is the nutritional food for your plant, and putting it into individual jars. These jars are then cooked in a pressure cooker to sterilize and kill any germs or spores that may have gotten
inside. After being removed from the pressure coker and allowed to cool down, these jars are then
inoculated with some spores/mycelium solution. This is all there is to it.

Step 1 Remove the jars from the box they were purchased in, wash them in warm soapy water, rinse
well and dry. In a large mixing bowl measure one cup of "organic" brown rice flour and three
cups of vermiculite. Mix these two ingredients together with a large spoon until they are well
combined, then add one cup of water and continue mixing until everything is equally
combined. Spoon this mixture equally into six of your canning jars up to 2 cm from the tp, and clean the sides with your finger. Full up with simple dry vermiculite (a la PF) and drill some holes in the lid using a nail and a hammer, 4 is that base, 0 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and you can put another hole in the middle, to speed up colonisation. Put some tape on the holes. Put the lids on them (the rubber seal can be facing up or down)and put some foil to cover the lid, down to the middle of the jar. Repeat this procedure for the other six jars
Step 2 Right before you place your jars into the pressure cooker you will need to loosen the lids slightly to prevent the jars from cracking during the sterilisation. Place as many jars as will fit into the pressure cooker(standing up) without forcing. Use the rack to prevent the jars from touching the bottom of the pressure cooker. Put a 2-3 cm layer of water, close the pressure cooker, and put on high fire. When the wtaer is boiling, take the fire down to medium and let steam for 1 hour. Once the hour is finished, stop heating, and let it until the pressure has gone down, and let cool. When warm to the touch you can remove the lid and quickly remove each jar and tighten the lid down immediately, this is to keep invading spores from entering the jars through the loose lids. If you could not fit all twelve jars in the pressure cooker at one time, you can now repeat this process as many times as it takes to get all of your jars sterilized. Step 3 Once you have all of your jars sterilized and allowed to cool down to room temperature (just
sit them on a shelf overnight) it is time to place the spores inside. This is the point in the
process where you just use common sence when it comes to being sterile. Use the oven tek; this meens putting your oven on the lowest heat possible, and working on the opened door, in the hot air. This prevents the airborn contaminants from falling on your work. Clean hands with alcohol (90%), and breath in your shirt. Step 4 Take your syringe of spore/mycelium solution, and after having sterilised the needle with a lighter (or any other clean flame), introduce the needle, between the holes, through the vermiculite layer and the tape, to the substrate and introduce from 1/4 to 1 cc of solution. Put some tape back on the holes and sterilise the needle between each jar.
Step 5 Place the twelve jars on a shelf in a closet or in a dresser drawer and leave them alone for
three weeks. You can look in on them if you wish from time to time to check their progress. The progress you are looking for is a pure white
mold growing on the surface of the substrate in the jar. This is the mycelium (mushroom plant)
which will one day put out lots of fruits we call mushrooms. If any color of mold is noticed
growing in the jars other than the snow white color of the mycelium, that jar is contaminated
and must be destroyed. All that means is you have to dump the jar out, wash it over and use it
again. The jars you purchased can be used dozens of times, over and over. These jars of
mycelium will grow in almost any temperature in your house as long as it is comfortable for
you, usually that is somewhere in the high 60's to the high 70's. This white mycelium will first
start growing on the inoculation sites, and will progress all around the jar. After one week, you can unscrew a bit the lids, to let the mycelium breath through the vermiculite layerWhen it has grown to a point that the whole jar is white, leave another couple of days to let the mycelium colonise the inside of the jar (3-5 days)

Casing

In this phase of the process we will be going over how to introduce the mature mycelium to soil in
preperation for fruiting. It is a very easy process and the sterility is not of great importace anymore
because the mycelium in your jars is mature at this point and is fairly strong and capable of fighting
off most invading spores and bacteria on its own.

Step 1 The supplies you need to get together for this step are, the potting soil, the vermiculite (you should have a lot left over), a spray bottle of plain water, a large mixing bowl, a large spoon,
your plastic trays and the substrate jars with the mycelium growing in them. Make sure you
have all of these supplies in one place before you begin the next step. Step 2 In the mixing bowl, add 1-1/2 cups of potting soil and 1-1/2 cups of vermiculite. Mix these
ingredients together using the large spoon until they are well combined. Using the spray bottle
of plain water, lightly spray the mixture and mix with the large spoon several times until the
mixture is moistened to field capacity, meaning that if you take a handfull of this mixture in
your hand and squeeze it into a ball it will hold its shape but no water will drip out. We want
the mixture moist but not saturated. Step 3 Pour the vermiculite into one of the trays and spread it level on the bottom.
Remove the lids from three of your substrate/mycelium jars and dump the contents on top of
the vermiculite on the bottom of the tray. Using freshly washed hands, crumble the
mycelium/substrate cakes into small pieces (about the size of marbles) and spread them out
into an even layer on top of the vermiculite layer. Step 4 Pour the soil/vermiculite mixture into the tray on top of the crumbled mycelium/substrate cakes
and spread level with the spoon. What you should have now is a three layer sandwich.
Bottom layer being vermiculite, center layer being crumbled up mycelium/substrate cakes
and top layer being vermiculite/soil. Repeat this process with your other
jars and trays until you have all of your jars cased. Step 5 Place these filled trays in the terrarium and leave them alone for seven days
at room temperature. The evaporation of the moist casing is enough humidity for now.They do not require any light during this time, but if they do get light it is
alright, its just not necessary.

Growing Shrooms

This is the last and final phase of the cultivation process, it is also the easiest and most fun because it
is the actual growing and picking of the mushrooms themselves. We have now waited five or six
weeks to get to this point and I know that everyone is excited about finally being able to see the
fruits of their labor.

Step 1 When you can see the mycelium poking through the casing at several place, it is time to initiate pinning. You have to bring the humidity up, by gently misting the sides of the terrarium about once per day, and fanning between 2 to 4 times a day. You know have to introduce light aswell. You can use the natural light, but don't put the terrarium in direct sunlight; if you can see the casing clearly, there is enough light. Overwise, put a tube, a desk light or whatever above the terrarium. Step 4 Within a short time of the introduction of light, about one week, you should have several
mushrooms popping up out of each tray. When these mushrooms start to open up and break
the veil under the cap, they are ready for harvest. Just reach in and grasp the stem as close to
the soil as possible and give a twist, it will pop right out. Step 5 This is not a step, just a reminder to keep spraying, and keep harvesting, until the tray no
longer is producing shrooms (one to two months). When your mycelium finally quits producing
you can dump out your tray, wash it and reuse it over and over.

Making a sporeprint

I believe everyone who cultivates mushrooms should make sporeprints, for their own private use in
growing future crops and also to pass onto others who are willing to try their hand at the growing
process. Take a clean washcloth and spread it out in a clean , draft free place it will not be disturbed for 24 hours, I
just put mine on my dresser top. Now take a 3 x 5 index card sterilise it (oven or alcohol) and lie it on top of the washcloth.
Take a "fresh" mushroom that has a fully opened cap and cut the stem off of it as close to the cap as
possible. Lie the cap, gills facing down, on top of the index card and cover with an inverted bowl or
cup. Leave this alone for 24 hours (48 hours if you want an excellent print). As the mushroom cap
dries it will drop its spores onto the index card. When the waiting time is over you can remove the
inverted bowl or cup and slowly pick up the mushroom cap. What you should see is a beautiful
sporeprint on the index card where the mushroom cap was, I like to think of this as God's fingerprint
because it resembles one. Fold the index card in half, enclosing the sporeprint, and put tape around
the edges to seal or put in a little ziplock baggie.This will prevent any foreign spores from entering your print and also prevent any
of your spores from getting out. At this time I should mention that I place my shroom cap on one
side of the index card so that when I fold it in half I won't be folding the actual sporeprint itself. A
print made this way will last for many years without any refrigeration, I place mine between the pages
of a book, that way only I know the best books to read. The spores can survive long if they are not exposed to humidity, light or heat. U can store your prints in a seales jar ora ziplock bag, and place a hadfull of dissicant in a piece of tissue if you want to keep the spores a longtime (6 months-1 year). When making a spore syringe, follow any tek on the web, alot a very good, and store the syringe in a dark place.

The End

Well, that is my method revisted. It is really easier to do than most people think.

From Psylo33: shit, bold doesn't work on the BB. Anyway of differencing the notes??

I am completly mad so dont listen to a word I say its the littleblueguyz fault.If I don'tpost anything for a few days, it's that I have suicided myself or I had decided to live on Mars.

--------------------I am completly mad so dont listen to a word I say its the littleblueguyz fault.If I don'tpost anything for a few days, it's that I have suicided myself or I had decided to live on Mars.

I am completly mad so dont listen to a word I say its the littleblueguyz fault.If I don'tpost anything for a few days, it's that I have suicided myself or I had decided to live on Mars.

Edited by psylo330 on 07/12/01 01:10 PM.

--------------------I am completly mad so dont listen to a word I say its the littleblueguyz fault.If I don'tpost anything for a few days, it's that I have suicided myself or I had decided to live on Mars.